With the French out of the country, the Colonies began to feel the oppression of a British policy which British statesmen and historians to-day most bitterly denounce. Their opposition to tyranny found its natural expression in the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775. The fires of patriotism leapt through the continent, and the little settlement at Pittsburgh was quickly aflame with the national spirit. On May 16th a convention was held at Pittsburgh, which resolved that
"This committee have the highest sense of the spirited
behavior of their brethren in New England, and do
most cordially approve of their opposing the invaders
of American rights and privileges to the utmost extreme,
and that each member of this committee, respectively,
will animate and encourage their neighborhood to follow
the brave example."
No foreign soldiers were sent over the
mountains to Pittsburgh, but a more merciless
foe, who would attack and harass with
remorseless cruelty, was impressed into the
English service, despite the horrified protests
of some of her wisest statesmen. American
treaties with the Indians had no force against
the allurements of foreign gold, and under this
